83R3932 JJT-D
By: S. Davis of Harris H.B. No. 756
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the establishment of a program to refund annually
certain dedicated tax or fee revenues that remain unspent for the
particular purposes or entities for which they were collected.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 403, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 403.0952 to read as follows:
Sec. 403.0952. REFUNDING CERTAIN UNSPENT DEDICATED GENERAL
REVENUES. (a) Not later than the 10th business day of each state
fiscal year, and notwithstanding any other statute dedicating or
setting aside revenue for a particular purpose or entity, the
comptroller shall identify statutorily dedicated revenues derived
from a state tax or fee that are deposited to the credit of an
account in the general revenue fund during the preceding state
fiscal year and that are not spent or obligated to be spent for the
purpose for which the revenues were set aside. This section does
not apply to revenues dedicated by the Texas Constitution, revenues
held in trust, or revenues for which separate accounting is
required by federal law.
(b) Not later than the 15th business day of each state
fiscal year, the comptroller shall transfer to a special fund
outside the general revenue fund from each dedicated revenue
account in the general revenue fund an amount equal to the amount
held in that account of the preceding state fiscal year's unspent
and unobligated collected dedicated revenues as determined under
Subsection (a).
(c) Revenues transferred to the special fund may be
appropriated only for the purpose of refunding the unspent portions
of the dedicated taxes or fees to the persons who paid the taxes or
fees, as applicable, in a manner provided by the comptroller under
this section.
(d) The comptroller by rule shall develop and implement a
program to refund annually unspent revenues of dedicated taxes and
fees to the payers of the taxes and fees in a manner calculated to
most efficiently return the unspent revenues:
(1) to the persons who paid the taxes and fees in
amounts proportionate to the amounts of the taxes or fees each
person paid during the preceding state fiscal year, to the extent
the persons practicably may be identified; and
(2) to the extent payers practicably are not
identifiable, to the class of persons who constitute the payers of
the taxes or fees.
(e) A state agency, on the request of the comptroller,
shall:
(1) provide to the comptroller information the
comptroller considers helpful to identify payers of dedicated taxes
or fees subject to a partial refund under this section; and
(2) adopt rules as necessary to gather information
helpful to the comptroller's program implemented under this
section.
(f) To pay for the expenses incurred under this section, the
comptroller may use not more than two percent of the revenues
appropriated from the special fund for the purpose of the refunding
program implemented under Subsection (d).
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.